This is a look back at the movie that inspired the 29 point scale. At the time of its release in 1977, we were convinced that this was the best movie of all time. Twenty-Six years later, we do see that Star Wars was not only a great movie, but also a noteable event in the history of motion pictures. Next spring, the final chapter in the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of The Sith,
will open. These first three movies in the Star Wars series are the details around the exposition by Ben Kenobi after he finds Luke Skywalker in the Tattooine desert.

Right from the brassy opening blast of the main title theme by John Williams, George Lucas' film took a grip on me and has not let go. Previous to 1977, we looked to the Planet Of The Apes movies and 2001: A Space Odyssey to offer us any mainstream Science Fiction in the movie theaters. Science Fiction/Horror was a single movie niche, but not the big money maker for Hollywood. Fantasy was non-existent outside of The Wizard of Oz. Costumes and Special effects were really expensive. People really wanted to see period piece dramas like The Sting and The Godfather.

Star Wars blew open the Hollywood studio doors for Science Fiction and Fantasy authors. Slowly but surely, Sci Fi and Fantasy movies became box office gold: E.T., the Alien movies, and the Star Trek Motion Pictures. Star Wars also paved the way for many of our favorite comic books to make it into the movies: Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and The X-Men. The ultimate wish of every Fantasy fan was realized in 2001-2002-2003 when Peter Jackson released the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. The Lord Of The Rings was a story generally thought unfilmable only 25 years previously.

I grew to admire the rebels, hate the empire and fear Darth Vader. Vader was the embodiment of evil. I feel the Force present in every living thing. I also truly believe that you need wings and turbojets to fly in the vacuum of space. All that mattered were that all these things worked and worked well in the movie.

The original movie we saw can now, for better or worse, only be found in the videocassettes that were released before the special editions came out in 1997. Star Wars is a standalone movie with a beginning, middle, and ending. All the other Star Wars episodes have enhanced and backfilled, but they could not exist without this movie. If George Lucas had started with Episode I and arrived at the time to make Episode IV, would it still be the same? I suspect it would be different. It would still be the pivotal episode, where the son of Anakin Skywalker comes back to save the galaxy. And the title of "A New Hope" really applies to Luke himself, now that we know the whole saga to be "The Rise , Fall, and Redemption of Anakin Skywalker."

For the 1977 year in film, the Academy Of Motion Pictures elected to give the best picture Oscar to Woody Allen for Annie Hall. Neither the Oscar nor Golden Globes voters were ready to declare that a Science Fiction shoot-em-up was the best picture of the year. But in fact, for the movie going audience, it is one of the best of all time. It is currently #8 on the IMDB top 250, right behind Casablanca. Annie Hall, no slouch, is number 95.

This movie influenced many across generations, and will not lightly forgotten. I highly recommend finding a copy of the original movie and watching it once again. Although, you can certainly appreciate the CGI changes that have been made for the new DVD trilogy releases in 2005. The videocassettes look dull and aged. Only the original laserdiscs will survive or be perpetuated into DVD form.

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Alternate Group29 Reviews of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope Special Edition